Where Do Unicorns Go?
by Belldandirah
Summary: The perfect TrishDante romance. A mysterious black stallion is seen around the city and Trish is convinced it isn't a demon. But the stallion jogs an old memory in Dante, just where HAVE all the unicorns gone? DISCONTINUED FOR NOW
1. Prologue

**PROLOGUE**

The story I'm about to tell you cannot be found in any book.

It lives with the wind, the earth, the sky. They say the tales of the unicorns were written from the saddle of their eight legged protector. But it's never been told straight from his heart.

***

Thousands of years ago, before unholy wars cursed the lands and the earth was full of wild and fantastic beasts with a spirit as free as the birds in the sky, unicorns ruled over the rolling plains, the great forests, the beautiful lakes sides. It was a time of peace and harmony, with these proud creatures over seeing all. Their beauty was legendary, their nobility was honoured.

They ruled the lands well, every beast lived in harmony.

But then 'they' came.

Humans.

Brutal creatures, they were, from the very beginning. They took the lands, slaughtered the unicorns and over thousands of years had evolved into an invincible hyper-intelligent race.

I was summoned down from the heavens to protect what remained of the noble unicorn race.

I would forever defend them in my honour until the last one passed away. Only then would I return back to my green paradise.

I would forever be Sleipnir, the Rider of the Wind.

I watched as the lands grew even more scarred, the humans grew even more intelligent and there was nothing I could do.

***

But one day, there came a worse danger, one so terrifying it threatened even the humans existence.

Demons had made their way from the underworld, governed under the great Devil-Prince Mundus. He showed no interest in humanity. He just wanted them all dead.

Once again I was forced to protect the unicorns with my life, but one by one they fell. I was limited in my abilities, compared to these thousands of demons, I could only do so much.

But then I met Sparda, a great and noble dark knight who would be willing to turn against his own people for justice. We would ride into battle together, charging at the demons, slaughtering the devils.

We were brothers, he and I.

We triumphed over the evil and, screaming, they fled back to the underworld like the rats they really were.

Sparda stayed on the earthen plane and settled down with a human named Eva.

Eva was one I trusted, she was once followed by one of the unicorns from the Forest of Silence.

She had my respect.

Together, they had two sons. Twins, Virgil and Dante.

I returned to my role as the unicorn guardian.

***

But once again trouble rears its ugly head, the unicorn tribe is threatened by three new demons, ones of great power and magical ability.

The unicorns, once more, are in mortal danger.

***

This is a tale of how two demon/human hybrids risked their mortal lives to battle for the unicorns' freedom, with me by their side.

A story of friendship and freedom, of romance and nobility, of joy and of sorrow.

So let me take you to the Forest of Silence, where harmony rules and wild unicorns run free…

**~FIN~**


	2. Stallions Shadow

**Where do unicorns go?**

By Belldandy-sama

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Chapter one: Stallions shadow

                Delicate be the Bonds of Light

                Seeds of Love grow strong at night.

                Demons appear, then rush away,

                But our love may never fall astray.

                Had we not had to suffer the wrath of dark embrace?

                As pure as the tears upon your face.

                So know your place and dry your tears,

                Draw your sword and face your fears.

                It is known that no love may truly fade and die.

                It is true, of course, that no Devil May Cry.

                It was an exceptionally dark night on the thirteenth of October. The wind howled continuously and the incessant raindrops battered at the window panes as the rumble of thunder could be heard loudly in the distance. Trish Armitage lay down her pen, leant her chin in her hand and gave a deep sigh. It had been five months since they had got back from Mallet Island, yet nothing had happened between them. She tried steadily to think this over. Slaying demons and sealing devils seemed easy work compared to being with Dante. It wasn't like she hated him or anything like that, she knew that no matter what happened she could never bring herself to do that, but she felt uncomfortable and very disappointed with their relationship. Dante often went out very late at night, and she shivered to think of what he might be doing apart from slaying devils; roaming the streets by himself or doing business with a lady of the night that might happen to take his fancy. She wasn't expecting him to be unfaithful; it was just that she wouldn't be angry if she ever found out if he had been. After all, there was nothing to be unfaithful to. Ever since that 'moment' they had on the island, what she had hoped would blossom into a warm intimate relationship had dropped below the freezing point. They had separate rooms, they rarely touched, never kissed and Trish had given up all hope of ever making love with him. 

                She had been writing reports for a long time, too long, in fact. It had to be done and Dante wasn't about to do them any time soon, if at all. She jumped as she heard another sharp roll of thunder, it was getting closer. The report was just about finished, just one last sentence… With another sigh she reluctantly picked up the pen and started to write. They could have been done on the computer, but she liked to keep things traditional and always hand wrote hers. Dante rarely wrote reports, when he did they were very short and to the point, but Trish was a fan of detail. She was so engrossed in finishing the last few sentences, she didn't notice Dante walking into the room and closing the door gently behind him. She shivered as he placed his hands over her eyes, "Guess who…?"

"As if I wouldn't know," she took his hands from her eyes, "Good evening Dante."

"Good morning you mean," he nodded towards the clock, "It's past twelve."

"Is it?!" she flinched, "I hadn't noticed. I've been writing since half six."

"You've been working on that report far too long…" he said quietly in her ear, "I think it's about time you stopped for tonight."

"I'm on the last sentence," she replied.

"Finish it tomorrow."

"Please let me finish, you know I still have my research to do."

"Fine, but I'm sitting with you."

"Oh!" she looked at him in surprise, "You don't have to, if you don't want to."

"I don't mind…" he smiled, slipping into the desk main chair and watching her patiently with his gentle blue-grey eyes as she finished the last sentence and leant back to stretch. He often got a strange pleasure from watching her do that, something he'd never quite been able to figure out. She was beautiful, no doubt about that, but that wasn't the only thing he liked about her. Her perfect completion, her gorgeous deep sapphire eyes, the incredible perfect curves of her body. Her soothing gentle voice and they way she moved – utterly captivating. Yet she wasn't the sort of woman he'd just be able to grab and take as they wanted, and a lot of women wanted the part-demon. Maybe it was his unusual silver hair, or his strangely wonderful attitude problem, or maybe it was his demon power luring them in like unicorns to a virgin. Who knows?

                He watched as she walked over to the corner and placed her finally complete report in the desk and pick up a few book from the rather large pile in the corner. Heavy, ancient looking books that were obviously years old. Trish slammed the books on the desk with a heavy sigh, more research needed to be done. It seemed there would be no end to the new species of demon that were appearing in the city. "Dammit."

Dante gave a dark smirk, "Aren't _we a good mood tonight?"_

"Shaddap Armitage," she snapped; "No I'm not in a good mood! I hate research and I hate it when you get cocky!"

"You know what you need?"

"No!" She growled, opening the first book and flicking though the ancient pages.

"A vacation."

She glared at him for this comment, "We can't go anywhere until we get rid of those monsters and you know it!"

"I know… I know…" he flicked his hand back lazily and ran it through his dusty silver hair; "It was just a suggestion. Just chill a little, okay? All that bad aura can't be good for you y'know…"

"Whatever," she rolled her sapphire eyes, "And when did _you start getting all so concerned with my well being?"_

He picked up one of the books from the desk and began to flick though it, "I've always been concerned with your wellbeing, it's just that whenever I try and take care of you, then you start getting snappy again… Oh, and then there was that one time that you slapped me for asking if you were okay when you were nearly run over by that dragon-like demon that travelled at a top speed of three miles per hour…"

"I do _not get snappy!" She half shouted, rather insulted with his comment._

"Uh- yeah. You do."

"Example?!"

"Now."

Trish fell quiet and slumped back on the desk again, he was right. She had been a little on the edge lately, yet she couldn't think of anything that he, or anyone, had done to make her like that. She scowled, trying to think. "Sorry," she said eventually with a deep sigh; "I don't know why I've been so angry recently. Everything seems to annoy me."

"I noticed."

She went to snap at him again, but gulped it down. "So uh… what did that demon look like again?"

"A pink six legged rabbit with googly eyes and a large grin."

"Dante…" she hissed dangerously.

Dante smirked again, she was so easy to wind up, "Sort of like a large horse, jet black, white mane and tail and eight legs, six and the front and two at the back."

"I don't get it…" Trish sighed.

"Don't get what?"

"If it was a demon, don't you think it would had attacked us? I mean, we saw it after defeating the Grendal right? I don't think it _wanted to hurt us."_

"It charged right at us."

"Then it swerved to avoid us and disappeared around the corner. We haven't seen it in any of the demon books, I don't personally think it _was a demon…"_

"Maybe it's a new type?" Dante shrugged. "You never know Hell – it's spawning new breeds all the time. This could be one of them."

Trish sighed and flicked over another page, looking for something… anything… "Maybe… but I think we're looking in the wrong place. Have you got any books about Heavens beasts?"

Dante shook his head, "Nope, I never needed them. I don't get bothered by Heavens creatures. Why would they _want to bother me? I wouldn't hurt them."_

Trish folded her arms on the desk and leant he head on them with a heavy sigh, "I would do anything - _anything - for a glimpse of one of those beasts."_

Her silver haired companion snorted in his own amusement, "Why? Seeming you're part demon, it'll probably charge right for you."

"Have you ever seen one?"

"Once…" Dante closed the book he was reading and leant back on the chair with a heavy sigh, "But it was ages ago."

"Tell!" A hint of excitement in her voice.

"Oh goddess… if you insist… it was ages ago, when I was still young and my mother, Eva, was still alive. A unicorn followed her back from the forest once when she was picking berries to make a pie or something."

"A unicorn?!" The blonde's eyes lit up. "You've _seen a Unicorn? What did it look like? What happened to it?"_

"Whoa, one question at a time, babe," her companion said with dark chuckle; "Yeah I saw it. It was kinda like a large horse – white, cloven hooves, lionish tail, you know – the usuals…

"Wow…" Trish said in amazement. Even though Dante didn't tell it with enthusiasm, she was hooked. A unicorn – the very thought of one made her heart leap. "So, what happened to it?"

"Mother sent it back to the forest where it came from. It didn't want to leave her though, it took a while to convince it to go back."

"I thought unicorns only followed virgin maidens?"

Dante shrugged, "My mother was pure. Anything like that would have followed her, even a unicorn."

"Did you ever see it again?"

"Nope," he shook his head; "I didn't go to far into those forests. Mother told us not to and the horses didn't like it."

"Ooohh… mommy's boy," Trish teased.

"Shut up Trish."

"I wonder were all the unicorns have gone?" she sighed, flicking over yet another page to be disappointed with its contents.

"Yeah, me too," Dante frowned. "Odd. I'll have to look into that. I bet I can pry that information out of the next demon we meet. Demons are frightened of unicorns, so they always keep touched up on their whereabouts so they don't run into one."

He frowned as she sighed impatiently, "There's nothing in this book about eight legged horses! I swear, we're looking in the wrong place!"

"You reckon?" he eyed her as she cast the book aside and pulled out another from the pile before opening it and scanning the text impetuously 

"Like I said, I don't think that horse is a demon, I swear it must be a guardian or something."

"Hmmm…" Dante scanned the pages of his own book. "Here's something!"

"Huh?" She looked up.

"Oh, no it's just the demon horses of Mortdrasil, sorry."

                She grunted with irritation and continued researching her own book. They were quiet for a while. Research into demons had to be the worst thing at Devil Never Cry – apart from living with Dante of course – as most of the demons were new breeds. Stuff hadn't been written about them yet, it still had to be discovered.

"So what happened to those Mortdrasil horses anyway?"

Dante looked suspicious, "Why do you want to know?"

She shrugged, "Just wondering."

"They were all cast into the pit of eternal remorse by their creator when they turned against her and fought for the goddesses instead."

"Ah."

"Isn't that nice?"

"Lovely."

                Again, another silence, neither too sure of what to say. Trish felt her heart pounding in her chest, she hated moments like this, uncomfortable ones where she could just burst into talking about love at any moment. It was so new to her, this emotion, she really wanted to explore it, too share it, but it seemed Dante was completely out of her reach. She watched him as he ran his hand through his silver streams, his darkish completion contrasting beautifully, his gentle blue-grey eyes patiently scanning the endless information in his book. She knew that she could search the whole world and never find another man like him. He was unique, incredible, holy, yet demonic. Confusing, she frowned. He was also within his grasp, there must be something she could do to turn his attention towards her. Something… anything…

"Dante?"

"Ya?" His eyes met hers and she felt her heart skip a beat.

"Do you think that… maybe… one day… we could… um, you know…?"

He frowned, "Eh?"

"I mean I… I just try to… but I can't-…"

"Trish, what are you saying?"

"I think… I think I l-"

She stopped at they heard a massive crash and jumped in fear. Dante just looked out at the window and heaved a heavy sigh. "The wind…" he rolled his eyes. "Well it is kinda late… maybe we should be getting to bed…"

"Yeah…" she sighed, her voice drenched with disappointment. How could he be so naïve? Or maybe he wasn't being naïve, maybe he was secretly laughing at her.

"Have you finished your research?"

"No," she replied.

"Finish it tomorrow."

"Oh Dante…" she placed the book on the desk and heaved another heavy sigh, "It's so late… I'm tired…"

"Go to bed then, take a lie in tomorrow morning."

"I-" She stopped as Dante pushed his arm under her legs, wrapped his other around her shoulders and lifted her off the chair.

"You're so tired Trish," he sighed, "I really think you ought to get some rest."

"Just let me finish."

He shook his silver locks, "Uh-uh. I'll carry you up if you don't go freely."

"But I _have to finish this research. Come on Dante, I'm on the last book."_

"…" Dante paid no further attention to her pleas and turned to the door, still with her in his arms. 

Trish sighed and gave up, after all, she might as well enjoy the moment while she could. He'd never carried her anywhere before. She closed her eyes, then opened them again as they reached the top of the stairs. He opened the door to her room and carried her in, placing her on her bed gently. 

"Well goodnight," he turned to leave.

"Wait," she gripped his hand as he turned away.

"??" He looked at her with some confusion.

"I think we should talk."

He sat down next to her, "What about?"

She hesitated, and her strength failed her, "Oh… nothing, never mind."

He accepted this comment and with a single nod of his head left for his own room, "Night Trish."

"Night."

He closed the door gently behind him and she threw herself back onto her bed with a heavy sigh. She had to tell him some time – but every time she got frightened of his reaction and gave up out of pure emotional weakness.

"Dammit!" She growled, slamming her head against the pillow viciously. Ever since those demons had appeared he always seemed to be teasing her, and enjoying it. He was emotional at first, but would then tear away and leave her disappointed.

_'Do you **like doing this to me Dante?' she thought to herself, **__'Do you actually **enjoy tormenting me like this?'**_

                She rolled onto her side and tried to think of something else but her silver haired companion. The pain tugging at her heart was unbearable and sometimes she lusted after her previous life, before Dante came along and she didn't have to deal with any of the heart ache. But then her mind would snap back into reality, there was no turning back and even if there was, why would she want to? There would be no chance with Dante whatsoever then. It made her shiver with the thought.

She closed her eyes and tried to sleep, regardless of the fact she was still fully dressed. All she wanted was some sort of relief, something that would allow her to stop thinking of Dante.

But even as she slept, he haunted her dreams.

(***)

                Dante sighed as he sat down on his bed. Trish had been so on edge ever since those demons appeared, very unusual for her. He preferred the old Trish, the happy-go-lucky bubbly one with a short temper and a sense of humour. Now it seemed the short temper was the only she kept. Everything else about her had just melted away, and now it seemed she had an obsession with unicorns.

_'Not that I can blame her…' he sighed in thought, running his fingers through his dusty hair again. __'They **are extremely beautiful.'**_

Just like Trish.

He pulled off his black top and leant forward, putting his head in his hands. God, he remembered that day, his mother, the unicorn, everything. He had been fascinated with the beast; he'd heard stories, rumours, legends and myths about the fantastic creatures. He used to bury his spirit and soul into every word, every picture that he could find of them. Every story counted, every image would shine in his eyes, but to actually see one, it had been a dream come true.

Yet as he grew and sorrow befallen him, his dreams melted away and the unicorns become nothing more than dusty memories. It was like they didn't matter to him anymore. Like he had stopped believing in them all together.

He adored the beasts, he couldn't help it. Everything about them, from the shining silver horn right down to the last flowing lock of mane was incredible in his eyes. Yet everything was gone now, all his books that had once stored the beautiful pictures and stories were hidden away along with his own illustrations that he had drawn when he was small and his own secret stories about the rolling forests and creatures of myths and magick. Child hood fantasies. Juvenile dreams. Nothing but memories now.

_'You're falling for her unicorn act, Dante,' he told himself as he lay back on the bed. __'She must have found out that you used to have a soft touch for unicorns.'_

He didn't want to fall in love with Trish, he didn't want to fall in love with everybody. The thought of being eternally bound to somebody was alarming, perhaps even a little frightening.

He snorted at this thought, he afraid of something? As if! But still… the mere thought if it. He shivered.

                The wind continued to howl and batter at the windowpanes unforgivingly. It was a nasty storm still flashing and cracking outside. A thought passed his mind, a thought of Trish.

She was there, grasping his hand tightly, lying next to him, facing him on the bed. He ran his hand up her side and she shivered with arousal, but still did nothing, as if waiting for him to continue. He pulled himself closer still and lifted up her chin to look at him. She was so beautiful… and her lips… so tempting… He leant closer, meaning for their lips to meet. They were so close now… too close…

                Another crack of thunder brought him sharply from his dream and he awoke with a start. It was only a dream after all, and dreams, to him, meant nothing.

He sighed and looked up at his ceiling. He loved that ceiling, he had painted when he first moved in to his tiny shop that had somehow become a major business. He squinted in the feeble light. He remembered painting every tiny detail. A large red dragon twisted itself around the left side of a black background. On the rest of the ceiling, angels, sirens, beautiful woman with long silver hair and in the left hand corner, surely… yes, a unicorn, rearing on it's hind legs, it's neck arched proudly and its horn glistening with silver. It seemed that even as he grew up he couldn't let go of the past, of the unicorn…

He slipped back into his dream state as the scented candles continued to burn around him. It was as though the world stood still as he slipped for once into a peaceful trance. With Trish beside him and a unicorn whispering at him from an undiscovered forest hidden away in the mountains.

_"I am the last one. I am the last unicorn."_

____________________________________________________________________________________________

End of chapter one

So what did you think guys? Like it? It's my first ever DMC fic, so please be gentle.

Yes, I have an obsession with unicorns, but I can't help it. They're so beautiful. Plus I think it's ironic that a demon should be obsessed with something so pure.

Please review this guys, I might even twist it at a request. If it's not reviewed then I'll remove it work on my Resident Evil instead. So be nice to me. =^-^=

Good Hunting

_Belldandy___


	3. The Sighting

**Where do unicorns go?**

By Belldandy-sama

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Chapter two: The sighting

                Trish stirred in the new rays of the morning sun and sighed deeply. It was too early… she could still sleep a little more… she rolled on her side, covering her eyes with her arm. The sun was surprisingly strong after the horrendous storm they had last night. Splatters of rain still remained on the windowsill and the congested streets were filled with puddles. But at least the sun was shining…

"Mornin'," Dante said gruffly as she stirred on the bed. He had only just gotten up himself, his streams of untidy silver hair fell into his eyes where he had neglected to brush it so far that morning. His loose black T-shirt and shorts sort of half-stuck to him where he had been sweating when he had been sleeping, but that didn't bother Trish.

She opened her eyes and smiled gently at him, it was quite normal for him to come into her room to wake her up in the mornings. "Good morning Dante."

"Sleep well?"

"Pretty much."

"Dreaming about unicorns were you?"

"Maybe."

He smiled and brought his hand through his hair, pushing it from his eyes. "You know, I had a thought…"

"So did I," she said quickly; "I thought that you were a bit to heavy to be sitting on my legs."

"Oh, sorry," he shuffled off of them and she smiled uncomfortably. "You know we were talking about unicorns last night?"

"Yeah?" she peeled the quilt back and sat next to him on the edge of the bed.

"Well, I _do have a few books on them somewhere… I'm sure they're in the loft somewhere, I'll dig them out so we can check for any sign of other horse-like creatures. You never know, we might find something about the stallion in there."_

"Oh really?" she eyed him suspiciously; "Dante, you never told me you had a soft spot for unicorns."

"Well, you never asked."

She sighed, he often came out with answers like that. 'You never asked' and 'eeiee' were among his favourites. At first she could never figure out what 'eeiee' meant, but since he always said it with a sort of shrug she soon figured it must have been his word for 'I don't know.' Simple, effective, yet extremely irritating.

"We'll dig those books out later," he added as he stood up. "I'm going to get dressed." He stopped at the doorway and turned around with a sly smile, "No peeking!"

Trish shook her head with amusement at this last comment, "Of all the things in the world, why would I want to look at you getting changed?" She called.

"You might do!" came the reply before she heard his door close once more.

She sat on her bed for a few minutes alone, thinking about nothing in particular. She knew that they had to stock up on groceries, as she had said time after time that had couldn't live on pizza his whole life.

"You'll get faaaa-aaaaaat 'Te," she had teased. But he never did, he seemed to be on of those incredible beings that could eat like a horse and not have it affect him in any way but to irritate his friend further.

_'Well that's life,' she thought as she opened her wardrobe in search for something to wear. She chose a small black dress, neat, casual, quite flowly. She liked it anyway. A thin silver chain served as a sort of belt around her wait. She had fought many demons in this dress, it was surprisingly manoeuvrable._

(***)

                Dante was already downstairs when she finally came down, which surprised her slightly, as it was _she who was usually the first down. He was making tea, which he seemed to have a strange obsession with. If something went wrong, he'd drink tea. If he couldn't think of anything to do, he'd drink tea. If he'd just come back from a long nights hunting of the demon tribe, he would again drink tea; it was just the way his mind worked._

"Hey Trish!" He smiled at her as she entered the kitchen, "Want some tea?"

"Go on then," she slipped into one of the kitchen chairs and leant her arms on the table top. "And biscuits."

"Aah, tea and biscuits. It's a British tradition," he laughed; "Not that I'm British or anything, but that's not the point."

"I see…" she rolled her eyes and looked out of the window. "I suppose it'll be a busy night tonight."

"It always is Saturday…" he answered; "Of course, it's when most humans come out, so a lot of demons come out too. It's a good night to feed."

Trish shivered, she'd seen too many human corpses that had been half eaten by the savage demon monsters. It was morbid, made her sick to her stomach. Meanwhile Dante would just shake his head and say, "My my… this isn't pretty is it?"

She hated the way he was always so casual about everything, but maybe it was the only way he kept himself sane?

He placed her tea in front of her and slipped into a chair opposite her. 

"I hope we see that stallion again," she said eventually after he neglected to say anything.

"Why?"

"I just want a closer looked at it."

"You got a close enough look the other night when it charged at you."

"I was terrified you ninny," she scowled; "I didn't think to take in what it looked like."

"It looked like an eight legged black horse," Dante said with a shrug; "That's all there is to it."

"But there must be something special about it!"

"I don't think so."

"For crying out loud Dante!" she said, slamming her mug down on the table in impatience; "It had eight legs!"

"Spiders have eight legs."

"But this isn't a spider! It's a bloody horse!"

Dante smirked darkly to himself and looked at the small puddle of tea on the table from where she had spilt it in annoyance, "You made a mess."

"Dammit!" She snapped intolerantly. "Stop being so god damn-…"

He raised his eyebrow, waiting for an answer.

"…I can't think of a word…" she slumped over her arms.

"Dense?"

"No, it's not that. But I'm not saying that you're _not dense."_

"Arrogant?"

"That's the one!" she said suddenly, her head snapping back up. "It drives me crazy when you don't listen to me!"

"Trish my dear, I always listen to you."

"Then why don't you _show it?!"_

"Jeez, will you chill out a little?" he rolled his eyes. "Stop being so touchy already. If you're like this all the time then you might as well go out and fight the demons alone, goddess knows you'll scare them off easily enough."

Trish shut her eyes tight and swallowed her anger, it was all she could do not to lash and a wallop the bastard where he stood. Like most demons, she found it hard to control her quick temper. Her hands began to shake in frustration and she slammed them down on the table to try and keep them still.

Dante noticed this and shook his head with a deep sigh, she was trying a bit too hard to control her anger. Once or twice it had completely dominated her and he had been forced to knock her out when she would calm down. With yet another sigh he placed his mug down on the table and stalked around her like a panther. She only noticed he was there as she felt his arms snake around her waist and felt his hot breath on the side of her neck.

"Come on, calm down…" he said gently; "You don't want to go into another anger fit, do you? That'll never do…"

She took a deep, agitated breath. She knew he was right, but after his little wind up game she also found it difficult not to take advantage of his position and hit him harder than she perhaps would have done previously.

"Shhhhh…" he whispered as he felt her breathing become but short sharp breaths. "Calm down. Shhhh…"

She could feel it, her anger was subsiding, her breathing was receding and it seemed that maybe she could calm down after all. Dante seemed to be doing a good job anyway, right?

Wrong.

In another fit of anger she rammed her elbow into his gut and he drew back, half out of surprise and half out of amusement. After a few seconds it seemed his amusement overcome him and he burst out laughing. 

"What's so funny?!"

"Ahahahahahahahaaa…" he shook his silver locks with a snort of laughter; "I love it when you get angry. Man, you're feisty today."

"Whatever!" She gave him another quick push as she stood up. "We need to find those unicorn books right?"

Dante rolled his eyes, "Can't we look later?"

"I need to find out about that stallion, Dante."

"But we've got the whole day to do that. It's still morning, Trish. And anyway, I'm _starving." He opened the cupboards but found nothing that he found particularly appetizing. "Aah, rats."_

"I told you we to go shopping more than once a fortnight," she laughed at his disappointed face. "We eat all the best stuff within the first couple of days."

"Yeah, I know…"

"Hey Dante…"

He turned to look at her. Her bad mood had certainly seemed to have gone now and she was leaning on the tabletop, her chin in her hands. "You don't think there are unicorns still around do you?"

He sighed, "Unicorns again…"

"Oh come on! I just wanna know what you think."

"I don't know," he shook his head; "I hope so, but we can never be too sure."

"Do you think they've all gone?"

"There's a possibility that they may all be dead."

"Dead?!" Her eyes widened in alarm.

"Yeah…" he replied, reaching for his cup to fill it up with tea from the pot. "Wiped out."

"What from?"

"What _not from you mean," he turned to face her. "Human's have been building for thousands of years, their territory has expanded greatly. The unicorns probably all fled in fear. Also, there has been a great increase in demons ever since the middle ages, I expect what remained of them has been slaughtered. If there are any left at all, then I expect they're hiding away in an undiscovered forest somewhere."_

"It's such a shame…" Trish sighed.

"It is," he agreed; "But if I remember what my mother used to tell me, they have a protector. He is seen around when unicorns are in danger. He leaves when they are safe. He will disappear altogether when they all die out."

"Oh, what did this 'protector' look like?" she raised her eyebrows with curiosity.

"Dunno, can't remember now. Some horse like thing. I think it was an eight legged black sta-……" His voice instantly cut off and he dropped the cup on the floor, where it smashed with a loud crack. "Why didn't I remember sooner? Dammit!"

The pair looked at each other. "We have to find those books," he said quickly, brushing past her making her hair blow in the sudden whoosh of air he created.

"Dante?" her alarmed eyes followed him across the room. "Dante, wait up!"

He had already torn up the stairs like a crazed dragon, suddenly excited by the ancient memory. Trish darted behind him, but couldn't quite match his speed.

"Dante, will you slow down?!"

He finally came to a rest on the landing and was staring up at a hatch in the ceiling. "They're up there," he said, pointing.

"Oh, and just how are going to get up there Mr Oh-I-Only-Do-What-Trish-Says-When-I-Remember-Things?"

He gave her a dark glare before suddenly darting into his room and coming back out with one of his swords from his collection. "Like this."

He held the sword upwards and pushed at the hatch so it swung open. They could hear the hatch door hit the attic floor with a thump. Putting his sword down carefully by the banister, Dante bent his knees and jumped as high as he could up to the hatch, grabbing the side and, with the agility of a cat, swung himself inside the entrance. There were _some advantages to being part demon after all._

After a few seconds, his head appeared at the hatchway and looked down at her. "Are you coming or what?"

She shrugged and did the same, managing to get straight into the attic with a single leap. Once there she looked around, it was pitch black, she couldn't even see Dante.

"Dante, where are you?"

"Over here."

"Where?"

"Here."

"Ow! What the hell did you do that for?"

"Sorry, I didn't know it was you."

"Well I believe I'm the only blonde-haired blue-eyed part demon wearing a dress in here thank you very much."

"Well I couldn't see you."

"You're a demon, for crying out loud. You should be able to see in the dark!"

"Well I can't, so sue me."

"Sure is dark in here, huh?"

"Uuh, you figured?"

"I really can't see a thing…"

"Dear dear… it looks like we'll have to start stoking up on carrots for you, Trish."

"Oh don't get started on crap like that."

"I'm sure there was a light around here somewhere."

"Well, hurry up and find it."

"I'm hurrying, alright?"

"No you're not, you're shuffling around like a rat in the corner."

"I'm trying to find the light switch!"

"Ow!"

"What?"

"I think I just walked into something…"

"Aahahahahaa…"

"It's not funny, it feels like a chest or something."

"You must have found the book chest."

"Have you found the switch yet?"

"No- oh! Here it is!"

                She sighed as a light finally flooded one of the corners. It was only dim and the whole attic itself could only really be described as murky, but it gave her enough light to see Dante at the other end of the attic, who had just rather amusingly hit his head on one of the lower wooden beams.

"Don't laugh!" he snapped; "It's not funny!"

"Devil may cry," she taunted with a roll of her eyes.

"I'm not crying. Besides, you fell over a chest."

"Yeah, and it hurt."

He made his way over to her, ducking at the low beams so he didn't hit his head again. "Can you open it?"

She knelt beside it and tried to push the lid off, "Nope, it's locked."

Dante sat next to her and gripped the padlock in his hand. With a single, swift motion he tugged it and it came loose, falling to the floor with a clatter.

"Ta-da."

She looked at him blindly, "How… did you do that?"

He shrugged, "Practise. Right…" Pushing the lid of the chest back, he leant over it, his blonde haired companion following his example.

"Wow, these books are old," she commented as she watched him take one out and place it on the attic floor carefully.

"They were old even when I was reading them when I was younger."

"That's beautiful…" she pointed to an ink illustration as he opened the cover.

"Yeah…" he smiled gently; "Man, this brings back memories."

He turned over the pages carefully, making sure not to miss a single page out, in the hope that there might be something about the silver-maned stallion.

He cast the first book aside. It had been nothing but general bits of information and pictures he had collected when he was younger. The second book he had more luck with; it had belonged to his mother who, like her son, also had a soft spot for unicorns. At least she did before she died…

"Here's something," he said eventually.

Trish looked over her shoulder from the book she was reading, "Huh?"

"There is said to be a protector who guards the unicorns with its immortal life," Dante read from the text. "He comes in the form of an eight-legged black stallion, often described with a silver mane and tail."

She placed down the book she had been reading and slumped on her chest beside him, listening to every word that passed his lips, suddenly captivated.

"After a time, this guardian become known as the Moon Stallion, though his real name was said to be Sleipnir," Dante continued; "He is said to be able to travel amazing speeds and can gallop for days at a time over large distances. Though he is not a demon, devil hunters worldwide have often mistaken him for one, though he will not hurt any creature without due cause…"

(***)

                This continued throughout the day, both as equally fascinated with the information as each other. After what seemed like only a short amount of time, Trish raised her head from one of the books. "Hey, what time is it?"

"Ummm…" Dante looked at his watch; "Jesus! It's quarter to eight!"

"We've been up here all day!"

"And we haven't even eaten!"

"Oh god, your stomach again!"

"Man, I've only just realised how hungry I am…"

"Can you think of _anything else but food?"_

"But we've been up here for nine hours flat and we haven't even noticed! That's rare for me, I can't even sit still for nine _minutes, let alone nine __hours."_

"Look on the bright side, at least we gained some information about Sleipnir."

"But there is no way that I can accept that we've been up here for nine hours. Check your watch again, are you sure it's quarter to eight?"

She checked again, "Oh. No it's quarter to six, sorry."

"That's still seven hours."

Her mouth opened to say something, but just as suddenly the phone started ringing. "I'll get it," she offered with sigh, standing up. "Oh man, it kills being down there too long."

"If it's Claudia again then tell her get stuffed, I'm not interested."

"Okay, roger that!" Trish smiled before getting carefully down from the hatch attic entrance from whence they had entered. He shook his head in amusement as he heard her thundering down the stairs like a stampede of wild horses. She would jump at any chance to give a nasty comment to one of Dante's self appointed girlfriends.

Dante was lying flat on his stomach, his arms folded and his chin rested on them, gazing at the pages and pages of beautiful calligraphy and incredible illustrations that were in the books spread before him.

Sleipnir… the guardian of the unicorns… it was all like it had just sprung from a fairy tail. But coming from the same sort of immortal blood, Dante knew of course that such creatures existed. In fact, they were the only earthen guardians of the planet that the Heavens had against the demons.

He frowned, if the stallion was indeed Sleipnir then that meant good and bad news. On the good hand it meant unicorns, or at least one of them, were still around. But of course, it also meant they were in trouble. And for Sleipnir to appear in a busy city such as New York. It couldn't be a good thing, there was no chance in hell that it meant anything in the way of divinity.

Maybe it all somehow linked to the other demonfolk that were appearing? Where they somehow threatening the unicorns?

"Dante!"

He heard Trish's cry from the hatch and he looked over it to speak to her, "Ya?"

"Get your arse down here double quick!"

"Why?"

"There's been a sighting!"

"Of what?"

She turned tail and started to thunder down the stars again, "Of the Moon Stallion! Someone's seen Sleipnir!"

____________________________________________________________________________________________

End of chapter two

Now this is wear it starts getting heavy. Review it now, please! The more review I receive the faster I churn out the chapters. 

And a big thanks to Ari who was one on the first to review this fic. If it hadn't have been for you, I wouldn't have carried on with this. =^-^=

Good Hunting

_Belldandy___


	4. Sleipnir

**Where do unicorns go?**

By Belldandy-sama

­­­­­_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Chapter three: Sleipnir

                                When the shadows of the dusk erupted into stars,

                                And the rising moon shall release her heavenly light,

                                Even though the planet is wounded and covered in scars,

                                I'll search to the end of the world in this pitiful sight.

                                Running through forests, through sea and through sky,                         

                                Devoting my life to each one that is born,

                                Though we are all condemned and sentence to die,

                                I will forever be the guardian of the divine unicorn.

                "Are you sure this is the right way?" She had to practically scream this over the howling wind and rumble on congested traffic.

"Positive!" He called back, twice as loud.

"But Ameia Crescent is three blocks away to the left!"

"It's faster this way!"

"It would have been eight times faster if we took the bike!"

"We can't!" They tore into a busy street and people dived to get out of their way. The demons were stopping for no one. "The noise might frighten the stallion off!"

"It's an eight-legged immortal unicorn guardian! I think it would take more than a bloody motorbike to freak it out!"

"Have you ever met an eight-legged immortal unicorn guardian before?"

"No, why?"

"It could have an allergy to fuel injection!"

"Dante, this _isn't the time for your stupid jokes!"_

He forced her into a sharp turning to the left, grabbing her wrist before she fell and they carried on. There was no traffic down here, no people either. It was a dark, quiet and rather dangerous looking alleyway. Trish didn't personally like the look of it at all, nor did she like the feel of it, but none of that was important to her at that moment, they had to find that stallion.

"Man, this place is a little bit quiet…" Dante skidded to a halt. "This place is usually full of sub-demons, what the hell is going on?"

Trish couldn't reply, too busy with trying to reclaim her breath. The howling wind blew her golden hair into a storm in its own right and she shivered with the cold, even from within her thick black leather trench coat. "Which way now?"

Dante scanned the area, there were only two ways to go, one of them was to turn back they way they came, or to go straight forward. "This way."

Trish followed him further down the narrow street, their boots making crunching noises under the random stones. Their hair blew back and the wind, Trish's golden waves glinting under the musty streetlight. Their senses were sharpened, listening for anything, looking for everything of the stallions' whereabouts.

"Now what?" She shivered as they came to a dead end.

Dante walked on a few steps into the darkness, feeling with his fingers along the cracks in the wall that prevented them from going any further. The way these cracks had nearly shattered the stone – it wasn't natural. Someone, or something, must have hit it hard.

"Dante, it's a wall," Trish grumbled; "It's flat, it's made of brick and no it doesn't make very good conversation either. So get your arse over it or we're going to miss Sleipnir's little visit."

"Why? Are you scared?" He mocked over his shoulder.

She scowled, "I have no reason to be scared. I'm just a little worried that we won't find the stallion, that's all."

A dangerous smile inched itself over his face as she spoke. She _was scared; she just didn't want to admit it, not in front of __him._

"Trish Trish Trish…" he whispered as he approached her and placed his gloved hands heavily on her shoulders. "Dearest Trish. _My Trish."_

_His Trish?_

She only stared back up at him, her sapphire eye gazing into his own blue-grey ones. Once again, the dark smirk. "You smell sweet tonight Trish."

She'd heard it all before, it was just another way of making her think it would all lead to something, it was his way of tormenting her, something he seemed to gain sick pleasure from.

So she answered her comment as sarcastically as she could, "Well unlike _some people Dante…" she started, mirroring his smirk to spite him, "__I wash."_

He snorted at this comment, "Do you taste as sweet as you smell Trish?"

Again, another teasing comment.

"_That," she grunted, "Would be none of your business." But excitement wavered her voice._

His eyes just narrowed and his lowered his head; Trish could feel his hot breath against her face. Her eyes closed slowly, waiting for the kiss, for the moment their lips would finally join after all these mouths.

But it never came, he just turned away and let go of her shoulders, "Time's a wasting Trish."

She clenched her fists in anger. Again. He had led her on _again. She was getting sick of it, but they had never gotten that close before. She went to say something about it, but bit her tongue and said something else, "Well… then you better hurry up! I'm freezing here!"_

Dante ignored her and she sighed impatiently, folding her arms tightly across her chest in a futile attempt to try and keep warm and stamping her foot like a small child. She just wanted to get this over and done with, but of course she was intrigued about the stallion as well. The thought of meeting a – no – _the unicorn guardian was an honour any immortal, in mortal in that case, would die for. She scowled again, "What __are you doing?"_

"There's a demon here."

"What?!" She walked over briskly to join him, still trembling from the cold, though it didn't seem to be bothering Dante at all. "What demon is it? Why hasn't it attacked?"

Dante should his at the pitiful crumbled heap of flesh and bone in front of him, "It was just a Niyra. A third class, it looks like. It's dead."

"Uuuughh…" Trish made a face in pure disgust. "How do you think it died?"

"Looks like it's been trampled on," he looked up at her with deathly calm, "By hooves. Lots of them. Sleipnir must have passed though here at some point."

"So where did he go? And how did he manage to get through that busy street without getting noticed? Somehow I don't think people would consider an eight-legged horse trotting down the streets an everyday thing…"

He looked around and up at one of the buildings, "Perhaps he wouldn't have to."

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it Trish, what did the book say about his abilities?"

"Ummm…" she fumbled in her memory, trying to recall it; "That he could run for days at a time through forest, sea and sky." She frowned, "What's your point?"

Dante pointed up at the roof of a neighbouring building, "He's been using the roofs. He's been jumping the distances and of course he thinks demons are a threat, so when he sees one he'll deal with it."

Trish rolled her eyes, "Man, I can't believe a horse's doing our job…"

"Well that horse's powerful, it's shattered every bone in this Nirya's body, and these demons are supposed to be tough, even if they are only third class."

"So now what then?"

"What else?" he looked up at the wall; "Let's go." He backed up a few steps back and took a running jump, reaching right up to the top of the wall and landing on his feet perfectly at the top.

"It's too cold to jump!" came Trish's grumbling cry, but Dante pretended not to hear and started to walk off. "Dante! Don't you dare leave without me!"

He was only a few meters away when he felt her grip his arm and pull it harshly. "Don't do that again!"

"Well, you were slow."

The wind was fiercer up here; it tugged greedily at their hair and made their coats flutter frantically. Dante just decided to bear it, as he did every time, but Trish was freezing, pulling her coat tighter around and wishing she hadn't worn such a small dress.

He felt her push into his side to try and keep warm and looked down at her in amusement; she was tiny compared to him, she must have been at least a foot smaller.

"You're cold, aren't you?"

She nodded, but didn't say anything. A dangerous smirk passed his lips and he wrapped an arm around her. "Don't worry, we'll find that stallion and get out of the cold soon enough."

"What are we going to do once we find it?"

Dante shrugged, "Eeiee. Probably wait and see what _he does, I guess."_

"Then can we at least get of off this roof? I mean, its freezing."

He snorted, once again in amusement, "This way then." Again he took a running jump and leaped a three meter gap from one roof to another. Trish followed hurriedly, though she couldn't help thinking that leaping mindlessly from one roof to another was somewhat risky. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"It's quicker this way."

"Well, it's not like we haven't wasted enough time already…"

He shrugged at this comment and leaped over to yet another roof.

"Will you stop doing that?!" She snapped as she joined him, "Really! You're terrible!"

"Down there," he said simply, pointing to a deserted car park on what had obviously become the rougher part of town. "I can sense something coming from down there."

The car park was only small, with space enough what must be about eight cars and was surrounded by mostly empty garages.

"Are you sure?"

Again his only reply was to leap from the building, onto one of the garage roofs and landed on the concrete perfectly.

"Why can't you just _listen to me, just for __once?!"  she snapped, following him down into the empty open space. "You know, I'm sure you do it on purpose, __just to irritate me! Well congratulations, you've won a gold star!"_

"Shhhh-hhh-hhh…" he slipped his hand over her mouth; "Listen."

She was quiet, straining her ears for anything out of the ordinary. "I hear nothing."

"Exactly," he whispered; "No cars, no people, no sign of the usual city business, everything's just… too quiet."

He was right. There were no dogs barking as usual, no sign of the crows that usually cawed strangely in this part of the city. Just… silence.

"Odd," Dante shook his head; "This is really really weird, I don't like it one bit."

"Hmmmm…" Trish took a few steps forward and looked around the deserted area, it was just as cold here, but the garages blocked the howling wind from stinging at her like it had previously. Or maybe it was something else?

"There's nothing here, Dante."

"Yes there is…" he began to stalk around the car park, looking for hoof prints, maybe a tail hair, anything that would show this place had been recently visited by a horse. "There must be something, I can feel it, something strong, and it's as holy as they come."

"Dante…" she whispered, suddenly aware of a noise he obviously hadn't heard. She received no reply so she spoke louder, "Dante."

"Ya?" He turned around to face her.

"What's that noise?"

"Huh?"

It was like a small scratching noise, followed by a sliding. Trish took a few steps back and looked up at one of the garage roofs; it was coming from up there. Twisted, it sounded like whatever it was, was dragging the entire spilled contents of its body along with it. A sick, slimy, dragging sound. Whatever it was, it wasn't a horse.

Trish shrieked in terror as something slid off the roof and landed at her feet in a furrowed mound; she couldn't make out what it was. The creature was soaked in its own blood, one eye was missing, with the other blood shot one staring out at her like a curse. Its body was battered to the point of non-recognition and something spilled from its throat. She was nearly sick as she realised it was its own intestines.

"What the hell…?" Dante ran over to her and pulled her back; "For crying out loud, be careful! Some demons are poisonous, even in death."

She bit her lip and clung onto his arm like a terrified child. She was normally used to blood and gore, but this was truly disgusting.

"Well I can't make out what kinda demon it is, well, _was." He said after closer inspection, much to Trish's revulsion, "Whoever attacked it battered it real bad."_

"Do you think it was Sleipnir again?"

"Prob-" his voice rang off at another sound. Not a sliding this time but a gentle _*clop clop clop* of hooves._

Trish gripped Dante's arm tighter and he placed a hand on her shoulder comfortingly as the noise increased. It sounded like there was more than one horse there, it sounded like there were two of them.

After what seemed like forever a shadowed figure appeared at the entrance of the car park and stood still. Even though it was still dark they could both see that it was _huge, perhaps seven or eight feet tall._

"Umm…" Trish tugged at his arm, but his eyes continued to fix onto the beast, as if fascinated; "Is it me or has it gotten a little uh… _bigger to you?"_

Dante said nothing, but tightened his grip on her; could it be that even he was perhaps a little… _frightened?_

The figure turned its head and stared at them; even through the darkness they could feel its gaze pierce them like a silver bullet to a werewolf. Then it started towards them, slow, gentle strides. They were frozen to the spot, neither of them could move.

"Shit…!" Trish but her lip and whispered. "It's huge…!"

Dante also tried to keep his voice level to the minimum, "It's just a pony."

"Pony?" Trish whispered harshly, "_Pony?! Dante, that 'pony' is eight feet tall!"_

They were both able to step back a little as the figure stepped into view. It was Sleipnir, there was no mistaking it.

The magnificent beast was coated in jet black fur, with a long silver mane trailing down his neck and back in silken streams and great glossy tresses of a colourless tail reached right down to the ground. Its neck was arched proudly and its body strong and sturdy. Its eight black hooves hitting the ground loudly and its head raised, showing an expression of pride and perhaps even pity. 

Its patience murdered the air as he made his steady way over to them in gentle strides, satisfied that they wouldn't run, that they wouldn't fight. After his great display of strength, it was the least they could guarantee. Why, the demon he had just beaten was a first class and it fell like a babe to a knife. No demon, humanoid or otherwise, could stand a chance against him.

But these two… they were different; the smelt different, the aura was dissimilar around them. He came a stop only about half a meter in front of the female and glared down at her. There was unholy blood in her, he could sense it, but her own scent was stained with the aroma of demon blood. Other demons blood.

He snorted in her path and she drew back a little, terrified. She was a demon, no mistaking it, but there was something about her… something holding him back from lunging at her and crushing her skull against the hard concrete like he had done to all those demons before her.

Sleipnir's gaze turned to the other one. This one didn't look like a demon, but he was still thinking 'dragon.' There was more to this one than there was to the female; what with his silken tresses of silver and ironically innocent eyes. Since when did demons have silver hair? It was a sign, usually, of a heavenly deity.

Glaring down at both of them, forcing the female to divert her eyes, she couldn't take his gaze. But the male… the male was different. He stared back up at him and, although his expression held some fear, his eyes wouldn't leave the stallions. He simply refused to look away.

A sign of pride.

                It was the stallion who finally shattered the deathly silence. His voice was deep, yet somehow gentle. His mouth did not move, the voice just seemed to echo from his throat and into their minds. For when this creature spoke, he did not speak out loud.

"You are clearing not a demon," he said, eyeing Dante disgustedly; "Yet you are no human either. What are you?"

Just the very thought of this horse talking to them through their minds was clearly enough for Trish and she squealed in fear, pushing herself as close up to Dante as she could possible manage.

He wrapped his arms around her protectively and held her close to his chest, "I am the son of Sparda. Perhaps your kind has heard of him?"

"Sparda?" Sleipnir's ears pricked at this information; "Not… the Legendary Dark Knight, surely?"

"You know him then?" Dante stroked Trish's hair as her heard her give a loud whimper, she really was truly terrified.

"I was his mount in the Holy War of the Underworld," the stallion replied, his voice suddenly threatening; "I carried him for miles, we fought together, we were brothers, he and I." He gave a snort of disgust through his large nostrils, "And now you tell me that you are his son? That is a fools claim! You speak with a sour tongue; Sparda's true son would _never speak with such disrespect."_

Dante frowned.

"And _she," His gaze turned to Trish, who was still whimpering into Dante's chest, "Is she a devil or a rat? I can sense the demonic connection, yet she whines like a young Avalii. Pitiful indeed."_

"You're _frightening her," Dante growled; "If you stop towering above her like a tyrant then she might relax a little. We don't care if you're a heavenly guardian or whatever, but if you keep scaring the hell outta her then she __won't stop whining."_

Sleipnir looked uncomfortable, obviously insulted by this comment. "Step back," he ordered, "I will not follow."

Dante did as he was told until there was at least a meters distance between them. "Come on Trish…" he whispered in her ear, "I don't think this guy wants to hurt us."

She sniffed and opened her eyes, which were streaming with tears of pure terror. The stallions' eyes gazed back at her, suddenly gentle. But her fear still remained and she gripped Dante tighter. But even his arm slipping gently around her waist couldn't get rid of the dread.

"She's never scared of anything," Dante growled as the stallions gaze fell to him, "So I don't know why she is now."

"All demons that cross my path quiver in fear," the stallion snorted; "However you do not."

"Why would I be afraid of a pony?"

Sleipnir was obviously to mature to rise to this comment, though he stomped one of his hooves angrily. "Once again you show disrespect in your tone, demon."

"All we wanna know is why you're here, why have you come to New York when you have a duty protecting the unicorns? You won't find any here."

"I have come here searching for the son of Sparda."

Dante just stared.

"I heard a rumour amongst the demon tribe that he was here, in this very city. But now you tell me that _you are the son of Sparda, I am having second thoughts."_

"You needed my help?"

"Unfortunately, I do." He took one step closer and Dante felt Trish shiver in his arms. "Demon, do you know how many unicorns are left in the world?"

"Okay, for a start my names Dante, okay? Dante, not Demon."

Sleipnir snorted.

"And secondly, no. I don't have a clue."

"There are no less than only seven unicorns left on this earth."

"Is that it?"

The stallion nodded his magnificent head.

Trish jumped and looked around slowly, "Y-you mean… they… they s-still exist?"

He nodded again, "They do."

Dante felt her relax in his arms, "Why do you need our help?"

"There have been a small army of demons been sighted around the forests of Yggdrasil, where this small herd of unicorns still remain. It is possible that they may be after the unicorns for their master."

"Why?" asked Trish quietly.

"Is it not obvious?"

"Their horn…" Dante whispered.

The stallion heard this and nodded abruptly, "That is correct."

"Dante…" he heard the quiet whisper and looked down at the tiny blonde cradled in his arms; "I would do _anything to help the unicorns."_

He nodded and faced the stallion again, looking at him straight in the eye once more. "Just tell us what we have to do."

____________________________________________________________________________________________

End of chapter three

Update in a day or two. (Tired as hell, been pulling all nighters on this one.)

Ummm…  I think I'm getting some people a little confused. The Sleipnir I refer to in the fic is the mount of Odin from Norsen legend. He has been used by the Final Fantasy people quite a few times but he is traditionally from ancient legends. Sorry I never explain that earlier.

Also, thanks to all my reviewers. This will eventually blossom into a sweet romance/fantasy adventure fic. Beware, from now on its going to get a little bit mushy. ^^

Okay, leave a review now. You know you want to. The more reviews I get the faster the chapters come out.


	5. Beware! Excessive dimensional travelling...

**Where do unicorns go?**

By Belldandy-sama

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Chapter four: Beware! Excessive dimensional travelling maybe be hazardous to your health!

                Trish watched as he tucked the seventh bottle of holy water into the bag and reached to the shelf to take down something else. "Are you sure we need all this stuff?"

"Trish," he answered without even turning around; "These demons are attacking unicorns, they're probably first class, and you know it takes ages for even both of us together to defeat one of them. If there's a group of them it'll take more than a swipe with the Sparda to send them on their way."

She simply sighed at this, knowing he was probably right. "I still don't think that dimensional travelling is a good idea though."

"Didn't he say it was the fastest way?"

"Well yeah…"

"We should be there in a matter of seconds if we use that. It'll be the quickest and easiest way."

"I still don't think it's a good idea."

"You should be used to it."

"I would personally try to avoid it as much as possible."

"Why?"

"I just… don't like it."

"I'm surprised to hear this coming from _you, shifting repeatedly from the underworld to the earthen plane before I came along and saved your soul." There was a hint of sarcasm in his voice as he spoke._

She raised her eyebrows, "Since when did I need _you to save my soul, Dante?"_

"Ever since you saved my life."

"…" She had no comment to say about this, so she cleared her throat uncomfortably and carried on, "So… Sleipnir said he'll be back here in an hour, right?"

"Yup," he finished putting items into his bag and clipped it shut, "You were shit scared of him, huh?"

"Well… he was a little intimidating…"

"Yeah, well I can't argue with you there."

"He's very unusual."

"I dunno about that," Dante took the Sparda from the wall and threw it to her. She caught it awkwardly and began strapping it to her back. "What I mean…" he continued, "Is that, compared to most other demons I've seen, he's probably the most normal looking."

"But he's not a de-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. He's no demon. But what I'm saying is that we've seen a lot of paranormal beasts, but they've never looked like anything in particular, right?"

She shuffled uncomfortably, "I guess you're right…"

"Okay, I'll give it to you that he's got eight legs and is probably the biggest pony on this side of America, but if he wasn't either of them he'd look just like a normal horse to me."

"A normal horse that can talk?"

"He doesn't really… if you think about it. He speaking, but not talking."

"Using his mind you mean?"

"Well, you heard it."

"Yeah…" She shuffled again and fixed her gaze on the numerous magical objects Dante had on his shelves. Daggers, ritual swords, scented candles in their gothic style holders, geodes with their beautiful crystals sparkling in the flickering candlelight and numerous artefacts that she couldn't make out. 

It was strange, the way he always had candles in his room, refusing stubbornly to enable the connection to the modern electric light. She could never figure this out at first, but she instantly found out why when she stepped into his room. The scented aroma relaxed her completely and nearly lulled her to sleep on the spot.

"Another new adventure on the way eh, Trish?" He made his way over to her, prowling gently like a cat after its prey, eyeing her seductively. Gripping her by the hips, he pulled her closer so they touched. He leant over her and buried his fingers in her long golden hair; it felt like silk to his touch.

She shivered at first, but after a moments thought pushed him gently away, disgusted that he should hit on her after what he done, or rather not done, to her in the alley-street. "Get away…"

Dante just laughed gently to himself and shook his head in amusement. "You don't like it?"

"After what you did to me in the alley, I don't think I like you at all."

He laughed loudly. It was a rich, powerful sound similar to that which she'd heard amongst men of 'quality'.  Though, at the same time it had a black tone to it, a hint of grim humour.

She just watched him, her eyes narrowing. Why did he always find her reactions so amusing?

"It's not funny!"

"Oh Trish…" he laughed again; "You don't mean that."

"Yes I do."

"Oh no you don't…" he shook his head, "You never do. You say it all the time, that you don't like me. But you know you do really."

She simply growled as a reply. 

"You love me really, eh?"

"I don't love you!"

Lie.

"Trish babe, I can read you like an open book. I can tell just by the way you move, what you're thinking."

"Prove it!" She snapped, "What am I thinking now if you're so clever?"

"_You're thinking that if you keep on acting like this towards me then __I might think that I don't know __you as well as I __think I do." He diverted his eyes and rubbed the back of neck, "Jesus, that's a lot of thinking…"_

"…"

"Besides, what have I done to make you mad? What was it I done in the alley to make you not like me this time?"

"You know full well what you done!"

"I do?" he smirked; "Amuse me."

She gripped him by the arms and shook him slightly, "You led me on! You led me on and left me disappointed like you do every- single- time!"

Once again he started laughing, his rich silvery laugh. She scowled at it, trying desperately not to burst into tears at his insensitivity. 

"Shut _up!"_

But he was laughing to hard to acknowledge her words.

"I'll leave Dante…" She threatened, "I'll go back to Hell and never come back. Never!"

His laugh faltered and he eyed her, though still with a smile on his face. "Will you really?" He asked tauntingly, "I don't think that's possible, you know. They won't accept you in Hell anymore. They'll tear you apart. And I can't be there to save you again."

"They'll accept me."

"I doubt it."

"Why are you doing this to me?"

"I'm being honest," he shrugged innocently.

"It's hurting my feelings!"

"Yeah, the truth hurts, huh? Devil's don't lie, Trish."

"You're no devil! You're just a… a half breed!"

"So are you."

"You make me sick."

"Well, you said it first."

"Dante, you're acting like a child."

"Oh, _I'm the immature one am I?" That dangerous smirk again, "Look at you. I'm trying to be honest and you just stand there, arms folded not accepting a word of it."_

"Dante, all I'm asking is that you just listen!" She said this with a firmness that even he froze to.

"I'm listening."

She sighed with relief and started, "Okay… all I'm asking is… why?"

"Why what?"

"What do you keep leading me on? Why are you always going so far then leaving me in the dust."

"Because…" He hesitated, dare he tell her why? Could he tell her the real reason for his torment? Exactly why he was teasing her so badly? Making her so mad?

No.

"You look like my mother."

She just stared at him, bewildered.

"I… wouldn't be able to… I mean…" His voice rang off.

"Dante, you're kidding. Please tell me you're kidding."

He shook his head sadly, he hated to lie to her, but what else could he do?

"I can't believe… you're still affected by all that."

"It's hard to let go of the past Trish."

"But you should learn to see past all that…"

"I can't!" He said so loudly that she jumped in fear; "Put yourself in my position! How would you feel if a woman who was going to be very important to you in your life looked so much like your mother it was inevitable to look into her eyes and not see your parent gazing back at you? I'm not saying I didn't love my mother, because I did, dearly. It's just that… I didn't like her…. in that way…"

"Dante I don't see how-"

"How what?!" He snarled angrily; "How it still affects me? Well it does! Deeply!"

"Why can't you see past that?"

"I can't…" he lied through gritted teeth; "It's… impossible."

"Dante, you've proved to me so far that nothing's impossible for you."

He didn't mirror her gaze, "There's a first time for everything."

"But I'm sure I can help you…"

"Amuse me further."

She hesitated, then spoke again; "But I don't want to be the source of your amusement Dante…" She crossed her hands across her chest, "I want to be the source of your pleasure."

"Amusement is pleasure enough for me."

"For crying out loud Armitage!" She snapped angrily, "Have you no interest in women at all?!"

"Oh I do, believe me I do," he smirked and walked out of the room, leaving her practically fuming with frustration. _'So you want to play hard to get do you Armitage?' Her eyes narrowed; __'Well, **two can play that game.'**_

And it was a game she was very content on playing.

So she flicked her long golden hair back stubbornly and marched out of the room in a huff. If he wanted to mess around with her, then fine, she'd let him. But she'd do _exactly the same back to him._

"Dante, where did Sleipnir say he'd meet us?"

"Outside the office, at exactly half past nine."

"And what's the time now?"

"I don't know, you have the watch. Look at the clock."

She rolled her eyes, he was still a little angry with her, she figured. Well, it wasn't like she didn't feel the same way. Anger… disappointment… her love just torn to shreds…

"We have fifteen minutes," she remarked, her quick glance at the clock confirming that.

"Hmmm…" he replied, slumping himself down on the desk and resting his chin in his hands.

"I'm gonna wait for him outside…"

Dante had no reply for this, he just grunted rudely and she took it as a yes. Taking her coat again and slipping it over her shoulders, she made her way outside, rubbing her hands together in an attempt to keep them warm.

She looked up; the stars were so bright tonight… unusually bright… It wasn't like them, with all the light pollution of New York City… it was rare to see the stars out so bright, if at all.

It certainly wasn't usual.

The sparkling stars gleamed back at her, she couldn't tear her eyes away from them. They brought so many thoughts with them, tugging at her heart strings like a dog to a leash. Sleipnir certainly must be somebody so powerful if his presence made the New York stars sparkle like that. It was as if the city wasn't there, as if it was nothing but trees and grass again. A beautiful wilderness.

Dante… Dante was in that wilderness, in her heart. His name was written in the stars, he song songs in her heart. She hated it, the fact he pushed her away one minute and brought her close the next. Hated it, but couldn't resist him, wouldn't resist him. It was impossible; she never felt anything so strong.

I had a dream that our love was blinding,

I dreamed that our romance would light up the sky.

I had a dream that we flew on silver wings,

We were in love, so in love, you and I.

Follow your dreams, my angel of darkness,

You don't always need to have me so near,

But wherever you go, always remember me,

If you need ever me, remember, I'll be waiting here…

So whenever you hear the wind tear at the forest,

Whenever you see the unicorns run,

I'll always be here, waiting beside you,

We're together again, two hearts joined as one.

You are my lover, under the sun…

"Devils never dream…" She jumped as she heard the voice as turned slowly to see Sleipnir towering over her again.

"I know…" she answered with a whisper.

"And you do?"

"…Sometimes…"

"You are one of the lucky ones, I see…" The stallion snorted; "Most devils cannot dream at all."

"Why?" She asked timidly.

"Why?" He repeated her question with an element of surprise; "You ask me that? Well… devils are dreams, nightmares, in physical form. They are born from human thoughts and fantasies, that is all. They are merely dreamed into existence, nothing more…"

"So if everybody stopped dreaming?"

"They would die away…" he eyed her, "And so would you."

"Oh…"

He snorted again and shook his magnificent head, "You took that easily…"

"Melting away seems to be the best thing right now…"

"Why is that?"

She gazed at the light in the office doorway and sadly back up at the stars again.

Sleipnir just looked up with her, "What you see…" he started, "Is not a miracle… nor is it a coincidence… it is merely a plea..."

"A plea for what?"

"For help…" he explained, "The unicorns are in deathly danger…. whenever this happens the stars sparkle over saviour cities… alas, most people do not know what it is, and they do not respond to it. Therefore… the unicorns die. It is usually a miserable and painful death. Full of sorrow… hatred… pain… anger…"

"Please stop it."

"…" He was suddenly surprised by her words.

"Sleipnir…" she said, turning to him. "I want to help the unicorns…. with all my heart."

"You do know it will be a long and tiresome journey?"

"I understand," she bowed slightly to confirm it; "I am… prepared."

Sleipnir chuckled, "I hope you are… for your sake… But remember…" 

She looked at him.

"If you ever find yourself in a place you never thought you'd be… then just look at the stars. Look at them and remember. The stars tell you everything; you just have to ask them."

She nodded, "I understand."

"Trish?" The door opened and Dante stood at the entrance; "Oh. Hi Sleipnir."

Trish and the stallion simply looked at him.

"Didn't know you were here…"

"We were talking," Sleipnir answered simply.

"Oh. Sorry." He shuffled uncomfortably, "Shall we go then?"

"You have everything we need?"

He patted the bag he had slung around his shoulder. "Yup."

"You are armed?"

They both nodded as a response.

"Is there… any other way that we can do this?" Trish asked quickly.

Sleipnir looked surprised, "I am afraid not, unless you wish to fly on my back for hours on end."

"Why Trish? Is there something you're not telling us?"

"Well um…"

Dante couldn't help but smile at her insecurity.

"No. I'm fine."

"You lie," Sleipnir accused with a snort.

"Come on Trish…" Dante urged. "Don't keep us in the dark."

"Well…" she looked down at the floor; "You see… I get DTS."

"Oh," remarked the stallion.

"Eh?" Dante just looked confused.

Trish simply shuffled uneasily, "I'm afraid so... You see, I've been a sufferer ever since I was first erm… created."

The stallion nodded, "I see…"

"What in hell is DTS?"

"Dimensional Travel Sickness," Trish explained.

"Eh?"

"It means that she may feel ill after travelling through dimensional gates," Sleipnir explained. "Like some humans suffer from travel sickness, demons or angels may, from time to time, suffer from DTS."

Dante just blinked, "That is… probably one of the weirdest things I ever heard in my life…"

"Well, demons get ill too you know…" she said quietly. Then she turned to Sleipnir, "Ermm… how are we supposed to… get on?"

The stallion looked vaguely amused, then suddenly dropped onto his knees, lying in a way any normal horse would if they had a reason to. "Now you may." He certainly seemed a lot less intimidating now he was lying down.

Trish placed one hand on his shoulder and it used to help her on. Even though he was lying down, he was still huge.

She gripped his great locks of silver in her fingers and waited while Dante slipped on behind her.

"Are you two alright?"

They both nodded.

"It will be a rough journey… especially for you Trish."

She simply shivered and he rose back onto his eight legs again. It was so different to be on his back, the ground seemed so far away from eight feet up. Even though his fur was silky, it didn't affect her grip. Dante snaked his arms around her waist and she scowled; it seems even though she had Sparda strapped to her back, it didn't put him off one bit.

Sleipnir twisted around so he was facing a long run down the elongated street that led up to their office.

"Hold on tight," he warned; "And please refrain from vomiting in my mane, thank you."

Trish heard Dante's quiet laugh as Sleipnir said this. 

"Don't worry, I'll just divert it in Dante's direction."

Sleipnir just snorted.

She shut her eyes as tight as she possibly could as he began at a gentle canter. It was as terrifying being on the beasts back as it was for meeting him for the first time.

Well… it beat arguing with Dante.

He broke into a furious gallop and charged headlong down the street. She didn't open her eyes even when she heard the buzzing of the porthole opening in front of her, or felt its warmth on her skin.

Sleipnir leaped off the ground to go through the shimmering gate of blue light that crackled and sparked in front of him like a cloud of angry lighting.

Then she felt nothing.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

End of chapter four

A want to say thank you to all my reviewers. I want to say an even bigger thank you to Ara-chan, who is the beta this fic. I can't type when I'm, tired… you should see some of the mistakes she found.

Okay leave a review now.

And stay tuned for chapter five.

Belle-sama


	6. The Forest of Silence

**Where do unicorns go?**

By Belldandy-sama

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Chapter five: The Forest of Silence

They landed hard on the other side with a jolt and a large bump. Trish felt herself lurch forward by the shock, but was instantly dragged back by Dante so she didn't fall off.

"Careful," he smirked.

Sleipnir trotted on a few meters, before finally coming to a stop beside an enormous tree root, which reached half way up his height and spanned quite an area. Trish slipped uneasily from the stallions back and onto the tree root, where he had obviously come to the side of so they may dismount more easily.

She staggered a little, trying to keep her balance, but her DTS was affecting her equilibrium and she fell from the root, landing in a bed of clover with a gentle crunch.

"Trish?!" Dante leaped down to join her. "Trish, are you okay?!"

"Uuuuuugghhh…" she raised her head for a few seconds, but allowed it to drop again.

"Do you feel unwell?"

She allowed Dante to help her to her feet, "Just… a little queasy… I'll be okay…"

Dante supported her shoulder and stopped her from falling over again. The forest loomed above them, shadowing them as Sleipnir had once done. The emerald foliage rustled in the wind and looking around Dante realised they were huge, the shortest one being at least seven meters tall.

But then he realised something else, "This place is….. so quiet."

He was right of course, no birds sang in the branches, no animals called through the undergrowth, even the wind was just a gentle whisper.

Sleipnir nodded, "It always is."

"So which way now?"

"That, my friend, is up to you."

Dante instantly turned to him, "What?!"

"It is here that I must leave you."

"You can't do that! I have no idea where to go!"

"Follow your instincts," Sleipnir started off in one direction, "They will lead you to where you _wish to go." With this, the stallion leaped over another tree root and trotted off into the darkness of the forest._

Dante and Trish were alone.

"Oh great…" Dante rolled his eyes, "Abandon us why don't you? Just when we needed you most…" He looked at his partner, who was leaning on him for support she clearly needed. "You okay?"

"Yeah…" she groaned; "I just need to find some water that's all. It kinda cures DTS."

"Right, there must be a pond or a lake or a _something in this forest," he looked around again, "Problem is… well- this forest is huge."_

"What did…Sleipnir say?" She gasped back a feeling to be sick.

"Follow our instincts."

"Oh… In that case… I really have… no idea at all, sorry."

Dante went to reply, but froze suddenly in his position.

"Dante?"

"Shhhhhhhh…!" He warned, gently placing a gloved over her mouth. "I thought I… heard something."

"Huh?" She was quiet for a few seconds. "But… I didn't hear anything…"

"I guess it must just be me then." He shook his head in confusion and changed the subject, "So, in which direction shall we go?"

"Ummm…" She pointed north-east, "That one."

"Why that way?"

She gave a mild shrug, "It's as… good a place… as any, right?"

He couldn't argue with her there, "I guess."

They started their way forward, Dante doing his best to support his blonde haired companion. She staggered at first, but after what must have been about a half an hour of walking through thick undergrowth, stepping, and sometimes climbing, over sturdy tree roots and following long narrow paths through the brushwood, – which seemed to have been made by an animal of some sort, – her stepping finally began to even out and she didn't lean on him quite so heavily.

"Now we're as lost as ever!" she whined as they scrambled over yet another oversized tree root. "And I can't see whether it's day or night!"

"Quit your whining, the undergrowth's starting to thin out a little bit," her companion replied as he helped her up, "We can take a rest here if you want."

On top of a large tree root wasn't the most usual of places of stop and have a rest, but she agreed wholeheartedly. Walking through such a thick, untamed forest was hard work – even for demons, or in this case, hybrids.

"I wonder if we _will see the unicorns…" she mused quietly, more to herself than to Dante._

"I think we will…" Dante replied, taking Alastor from its sheath strapped to his back and looking at it closely. "Alastor normally crackles like a spark gun when there's a demon around and as yet she's done no such thing."

"You trust Sleipnir?"

"Who wouldn't?" the man shrugged, "There's something about him, an air that's telling me to trust him. I wouldn't depend on anyone else with my life, except you maybe, but Sleipnir I trust in all honesty."

"It's not like you to talk like that."

His gaze slipped from Alastor to her, "What do you mean?"

"I'm just saying… It's not the sort of language you normally use."

"And… _that also means?"_

"Have you been going to English lessons?"

He uttered a deep sigh and a gentle smile inched its way across his face, "Actually, no."

Trish went to reply but stopped in alarm when Dante suddenly jumped up, startled by something, brandishing Alastor dangerously in both hands. "What is it?"

"I heard that noise again."

"What noise…?"

"Shhhh…" he hissed seriously, "Can't you hear it?"

She could, it was like a low, savage growl. It brought a chill shooting up her spine and she shivered. "What do you think it is?"

"I don't know… some sort of native animal, I guess…" He leaped down from the tree root, the Alastor still gripped in his hands. "I think it's coming from over there…"

"Be careful…"

"I'll be fine."

He inched nearer, closing on the thick undergrowth, ready with Alastor, waiting for the creature that could pounce at any moment. Closer… closer still… He could hear the creature, whatever it was, snarling savagely. He was ready, Alastor was ready and the beast didn't stand a chance.

He turned suddenly as he heard a loud scream from behind him, "TRISH?!"

Someone, something, had pounced on her and was holding her down. She shrieked and thrashed wildly under it, but was unable to throw it off. It was a black panther, just a normal black panther. There seemed to be nothing demonic about it at all. But its strength, no ordinary black panther could hold Trish down like that.

Gripping the Alastor hard, Dante started at top speed towards her, to force the creature away. Another panther jumped at him and he ducked, so it flew over him and crashed into a tree trunk not so far off. But it recovered quickly and instantly leaped at him again, claws extended, fangs dripping with lust for murder.

He swung at it with Alastor and, with a crackle of electricity and a howl that pierced the air like a bullet, the creature flew back, twitching in a pool of its own blood.

They weren't easy.

Once, twice and again, more panthers leaped at him from the undergrowth, from the branches of trees and he tried frantically to fight them off – to get to Trish.

Trish had been caught when she least expected it and had no time to reach for Sparda before she found herself pinned down by one these creatures, trying to turn her face away from its glaring eyes and snapping jaws. But she could feel its hot, stale breath on his neck, feel its whiskers gently tickling her skin and she managed to pull one her hands free, slamming it against the throat of the panther, trying desperately to push it away. But to no avail, it was too strong and she felt like its enormous weight was crushing her fragile limbs. And the pain… the pain was unbearable.

Then she remembered- her magical abilities. Summoning up all the power in her weakening body, she hit her free hand against the forehead of the beast and channelled five-hundred volts of electricity from her veins to its skull. In howled in pain, a long, strident howl that couldn't possibly begin to describe the pure agony it was going through. Five hundred volts was enough to kill a second class demon, and it was certainly enough to kill a panther.

It crashed back onto the ground, where it laid smoking, cooked from the inside out. The smell was sickening, and Trish felt her stomach lurch as she tore her eyes away, unable to look at the heap of roasting flesh any longer.

She withdrew Sparda quickly as another panther leaped at her from behind, slicing it across the neck with the heavy blade, amputating its head from its body as easily as it were butter.

She was gaining in confidence now and cast a brief look over to where her moon-haired companion was hacking and slashing away at the beasts, which there seemed to be no end to. There was a roar as he engulfed one in flames before quickly turning and tearing a hole in the chest of another unfortunate beast with Alastor.

But she realised looking away, even only briefly, was a mistake she shouldn't have made as she felt herself pinned down yet again by a different beast. Sparda went flying from her hands and got wedged in the dirt only a few meters away from her. Again she summoned her electrical abilities and went to give the beast a shock to remember her by, until she felt the panther club her cleanly around the head with its paw, knocking her out cold.

Dante continued to battle them away, driving Alastor into the hearts of them, not wincing even when the blood splattered his face. But he could only watch and battle helplessly as Trish was gently lifted onto the back of a panther by two others and they scampered off into the forest, taking Trish with them.

One by one, the panthers started to pull back and follow their companions, leaving Dante standing in a battlefield of blood, death and defeat. The ache of his limbs could not compete with the ache of his heart.

Trish had been taken right in front of him and what could he do? Nothing!

"Dammit!" He cursed, pulling the Sparda with ease from its resting place in the hard dirt ground.

Why did they want Trish? Why hadn't they tried to kill her?

So many questions, not enough answers.

But they'd taken Trish.

_His Trish._

He staggered for a few seconds, trying to recover. His wounds weren't serious but they stung, nevertheless they would heal in time. But Trish…

He started to tear in the direction where the panthers had headed; he sprinted, jumped and stumbled his way through undergrowth, trees and grassy pathways. He didn't stop to think to cut his way through, his mind was too fixed on Trish, in diligent in calling her names countless times, hoping… praying… that from somewhere in the darkness she might reply.

But there was nothing.

Nothing more than him tearing through the trees on the panthers tail, but as their thundering steps faded away, he knew that there was no way of catching up with them, he knew that they were probably at their destined location by now, that he had lost.

His sprint died into a steady jog and then into a slow trudge. He had no idea where he was or how he was going to get out. He hadn't given up yet, no way, but still… how was he supposed to find her in this forest? It was the thickest, most immense and most dangerous forest in existence. The exact thought of that gave him no reassurance. He was quickly getting tired, his body demanded rest but his mind screamed at him to go on, to find Trish.

Eventually, by sheer luck it seemed, he stumbled on a large clearing and he slumped down on the ground to rest, his limbs aching, his chest pounding and his breathing sickeningly intense. He gripped Sparda in one hand and Alastor was firmly attached to his back.

After a few minutes of trying to regain his breath, he looked around at his surroundings. The ground was lined in a thick mist and the smell could only really be described as musty.

He wasn't quite sure was it was at first, it loomed above him, casting a shadow over the misty ground and making the whole clearing seem as murky as ever. Still breathing hard from where he had been running a few minutes before, he picked himself and went to inspect it more closely.

It was a tree, nothing more, nothing less, or so he thought at first. But it was huge, the other trees were large enough certainly, but this one took it to the limits. It must have been at least forty meters high. Its branches were completely bare and the bark was a dusty dark grey. The whole thing looked dead.

Right at the base of the truck there was a large opening, about the size of an opening on a large cave. Grey strands of ivy hug loosely around the entrance, but at closer examination, he realised they were petrified. The whole tree was petrified.

Hesitantly he stepped into the entrance, gripping Sparda so tightly his hand nearly went numb. A sickening feeling dripped into his stomach, he had no idea where he was, or how he managed to stumble across it, but he didn't like the feel of the place at all.

Tentatively he started to walk forward, not knowing what drew him to it, or why he had any feeling that Trish could be in here at all. There was just that tiny glimmer of hope.

But his dreams were instantly shattered as he heard the familiar growl from in front of him and a flash of eyes that gleamed quickly before something lunged at him. He was full of both horror and relief when he realised it was another panther. The glimmer of hope suddenly didn't seem so minute after all and he quickly disposed of it with a flash of Sparda's blade.

Suddenly he broke into a panicked run and charged headlong into the cave, hacking and slashing at any panther that dared leap into his path – and there were a lot of them.

Then he saw her, lying senseless at the back of the cave.

"Trish!" With a sudden burst of effort, he forced himself to run faster, to get to her, to take out of this godforsaken hellhole. Not that he knew why she was taken there in the first place. But he was about to find out.

Another panther, three times the size of the others, leaped down from a rocky ledge and landed in front of him with a heavy crash that made some rubble fall from the ceiling. He was in the main chamber now, and the little light that descended into the place was from the entrance.

The panther's eyes glowed red and his hissed savagely; then it struck Dante that this creature wasn't a panther at all, it was a Shadow Cat, one of the demons he had encountered on Mallet Island.

And he was equally unhappy to see _it as it was to see __him._

After a few more seconds staring, the Shadow lunged viciously for him and, although he easily dodged, the Shadow still managed to club him sharply with one of his makeshift paws on the stomach, stunning him for a few brief seconds. Those few seconds were all it needed and before Dante could gather his wits once more, it was on top of him, pinning him down on his chest, digging his sharp claws into his soft flesh.

Just like what had happened to Trish.

He forced his arm away from its pin and hurled Sparda towards it with all his strength. It rendered useless as the Shadow calmly split and allowed it to pass before promptly joining again.

Dante could feel its hot breath on the skin of his neck; maybe it was time to join Trish.

Then suddenly, a thunder of hooves could be heard from the entrance and two creatures that couldn't have more perfect timing burst, in full gallop, into the chamber. Two creatures that he would never have been so thankful to see in his life.

There was no mistaking the enormous, eight-legged physique of Sleipnir as he charged into the chamber with his silver mane whipping behind him as his speed passed thirty miles per hour. But the other, the other was different.

Dante strained his eyes to look at the panther was distracted by their battle calls and Sleipnir's rear of anger.

Then, he realised.

It was a unicorn – tall, strong, proud and beautiful, with a finely arched neck and back and deep blue eyes, lined with dark lashed increasing its already unbelievable beauty. Long trails of soft mane fell over its sturdy withers and down to its knees. Its fantastic coat of the softest pure white fur covered its entire body like a milk blanket and a curtain of silken mane fell partly over its eyes. Its long sleek tail started off as the beginning of a lions' tail, before halfway falling to the ground in a curtain of silken streams. Its strong cloven silver hooves hit angrily against the hard stone floor and its long legs were muscular from running miles and miles over grassy valleys and undiscovered forests. It stood proudly with its back arched in a way that suggested it would fight for its honour, and take honour in a fight.

In a word, it was incredible.

But the single, most fantastic thing of all was a single, spiralling silver horn in the middle of its forehead. Exceptionally beautiful, but unfortunately a great attraction of the ugly selfishness that was human greed.

Dante could only stare, spellbound. Even though they had travelled so far, he never honestly thought he would see one. And it seemed hideously ironic that Sleipnir would appear only a night after unicorns had been the subject of conversation.

He snapped out of his dream as the Shadow Cat instantly left him and made, narrow-mindedly, for the two horse-types instead. He took his chance and got shakily to his feet, thanking his luck that all the panthers were now diving for the two fighting companions, and falling like flies as they were crushed by Sleipnir or disappearing in a crack and a flash of light as the unicorn used some kind of magic. Tearing over to Trish, he fell to his knees beside her and gently lifted her head from the ground, pulling her up so she rested in his arms. "Trish…"

There was no response; whatever the panthers had done to her, there was no way she was going to wake up soon.

"Trish," he tried again, a little louder this time, but not so loud as to grab the attention of any nearby panthers.

Again, no response, not a flicker of an eyelash, not a stir, not a whine. Nothing.

He looked up just as a panther leaped onto the unicorns back and started clawing at it crazily. The unicorn uttered a cry and reared up in hopes that it would fall. It didn't however and the unicorn was forced to use another method. It cantered for a few meters before suddenly rolling onto the ground, crushing its body against the hard rock.

Dante winced as he heard the crack of the panthers bones against the floor and it lay unmoving as the unicorn picked itself up and charged frantically at the Shadow Cat, which Sleipnir was currently trying to deal with.

One by one, limping panthers crawled from the chamber, some of them suddenly falling outside the cave or in its entrance.

Sleipnir neighed something at his companion and the unicorn responded by drawing back and cantering to the back of the cave without hesitation.

Of course Dante had no idea what he had just said, he didn't understand horse speak, but it was obvious they were working out some battle plan. The panthers were no longer a threat anymore, most of them had fled, those who were brave enough, or stupid enough, to stay and fight were either dying or laying in a pool of their own blood, their lives long since over.

The unicorn charged at the Shadow again and slowly, but surely, the two horse-types drove it back, out of the cave and into the misted clearing. It was becoming weak now and all its attempts to spike them were cast of as pathetic as the two companions dodged them easily.

Dante followed close behind them, Trish's limp form cradled in his arms. He held her close to his chest, as if it would magically revive her. He felt too weak, too wretched to fight, slumping back down on the ground again as he watched the two enemies battle it out.

Finally the unicorn delivered the Shadow one last blow by slamming into it with its body before it ultimately disappeared with a howl and an explosion of inky splashes.

It was over.

After a few minutes of recovering, the two horse-types looked over at where Dante sat, still with Trish cradled in his arms. The unicorn gave a snort and walked over to them, gracefully. Dante cowered as it approached, he normally afraid of nothing, yet he didn't cower in fear, but respect.

"Humans…" when it spoke, it spoke with dignity and in pretty much the same way Sleipnir did, its lips not moving and with a pride that was almost arrogant. Yet Dante could tell from his voice that it was obviously male. "You brought humans to help us Sleipnir? Why, they can barely look after themselves."

"This place is very dangerous for their kind," Sleipnir tried to defend them as he trotted over; "It weakens their capabilities."

The unicorn was silent for a few moments before demanding down on Dante harshly, "Up, human. Let me take a lot at you."

Although he would normally answer back to this, Dante quickly, but gently, placed Trish down on the ground and stepped over her, laying the Sparda close to her and standing a few meters away to do what the unicorn requested.

The unicorn began to circle him with interest and he stood tall, though warily watching him as he continued to circle.

"Tall, well equipped, not to robust…" the unicorn mumbled, more to himself than to anyone else, "And silver hair too. On a human? How unusual. Devil hunter are you?"

"Yes."

"Speak up, human!"

"Yes."

"I see…" the unicorn stared long and hard into his eyes before stamping one cloven hoof down on the ground in disgust. "He's no ordinary human. What are you?"

The unicorns gaze fell to Sparda that lay, in all its glory by Trish, the fighting not seeming to have affected it at all. "No…" he looked quickly over to Sleipnir, "Not the son of Sparda?"

Sleipnir nodded.

"Well…" the unicorn back up a little, "My apologies, but you are a little… different… to what I expected." He looked over to where Trish lay, but her peaceful appearance was a deception. "She's poisoned."

Sleipnir nodded on agreement.

"What?" Dante looked surprised, "How?"

"Those panthers were poisonous," he explained. "If she is not cured, she will surely die."

"Can't a unicorn counteract poison?"

The unicorn gave a grunt and pawed at the ground with his hoof impatiently.

"Tarynn please…" Sleipnir spoke with a snort, "She is one of your guardians, you cannot afford to let her die."

The unicorn hesitated, but then put his head down gently, carefully, touching his horn to her throat.

There was a few seconds of uneasy silence, but after what seemed like forever Trish finally stirred in Dante's arms and she slowly opened her eyes. "Dante…?"

She looked around her and sat up suddenly. Dante gripped her carefully but her eyes were fixed on something else. "Oh… my god…"

Tarynn looked back down at her, mirroring her gaze. She was silent, simply unable to trust the sight that stood in front of her. She shook her head, unbelieving, "I don't…. I mean… is this for real?"

"As real as you're gonna get Trish." Dante answered cheerfully, though he only spoke in such a tone as he was sceptical himself.

She gazed into the unicorns eyes for a few moments longer, before outstretching her hand. She had to see, she had to see if it was real for herself.

At first Tarynn just stared, then, as a result of a nudge from Sleipnir, he slowly, gently pushed his soft muzzle into her hand. She drew back, unable to believe it, then placed her hand on its face. His fur was soft, silky, perfect in every way. But the sheer feeling of be able to touch a unicorn… it was incredible…

Tarynn quickly withdrew and looked over at where the dead panthers scattered the area in pools of foul-smelling blood. It was sickening. The whole area was sickening.

"I think we should head back…" he said, with a snort of disgust through his large nostrils. "This place offends my senses."

With this he turned, flicking his lionish tail behind him and started off in steady strides from where he first emerged.

"Wait!"

Tarynn turned at Sleipnir's call.

"The human. She needs help getting back."

Tarynn watched as Dante lifted Trish, with trouble, onto Sleipnir's back. She gripped his mane tightly and sighed.

Dante looked up at her, "You okay?" 

"Still a little groggy," she replied, "But I'll survive."

Dante smiled at her weak attempt of sarcasm.

"You're lucky Tarynn was here," Sleipnir said sternly, "Neo-Panther poison is not the nicest thing to be affected by. You would be dead by now. If you were not half demon I do not think we could have saved you at all."

Trish gripped his mane tighter and closed her eyes; she didn't want to think about it. Dante slid his hand over hers and patted it comfortingly. Their eyes met and he smiled compassionately, thanking whatever gods or goddesses were out there that she was still alive, that there was still a chance for them…

Slowly they started to pace their way out of the clearing and away, finally, from the nemesis.

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End of chapter five

I'm sorry this took so long everybody! I hate writing action scene's so they take me aaaaaaages. Well I hoped you enjoyed it and for everyone who's reading this purely for the unicorns, there are more on the way.

Now like I ask you every time, please leave a review and for all those reading this for the Trish/Dante romance, the next chapter is definitely for you! ^-~

Good hunting.

Belle


	7. Your Pain is my Pain

**Where do unicorns go?**

By Belldandy-sama

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Chapter six: Your pain is my pain

The four companions made their way in silence through the rugged forest, Tarynn leading the way through the thick under growth and over tree root, which most of them they had to jump over, sometimes at quite a height.

Dante looked up at where Trish sat comfortably on Sleipnir's back, "She's fainted again."

"She will be alright," the stallion replied. "She is just tired, that is all. Poison does that to you."

"How are those panthers poisonous? It's really weird."

"Let me tell you this, human," Sleipnir snorted as he stepped carefully over a small tree root, "This forest used to be beautiful, sun light used to flood through the trees, delightful flowers would grow everywhere and anywhere. The wild animals would uphold the law of the forest; they all lived together in perfect harmony."

"So they never killed?"

"Oh, they killed alright. They have to, they are carnivores. They have to kill to eat. But they were only allowed to take what they need, not what they want. Say if a leopard was hungry enough to eat two buck, but they only really needed one. One would be all they could take. The wolf clan were especially strict, they were very careful in the way they went about things. That is… until 'they' came."

"They?"

"The demons. They enslaved the animals under a powerful spell, they are the ones who have given the panthers their poison, allowed lower class demons into the forest and petrified Gaea, the great mother tree,"

"That was the big stony thing we were just at?"

"It was indeed. Without her, the forest will surely die, everything will die."

"…"

"Now that the demons have come, the birds have stopped singing, the animals think of nothing but bloodlust and the forest is covered in scars."

"…"

"You see now why we need your help so badly? If the forest were to die, the unicorns would have to leave and they would not stand a chance anywhere else. You have seen yourself what human greed can do."

"Yeah…" Dante sighed, "Yeah, I know what you mean. And I don't want any unicorns to die, even if they are a bit…" he glanced at Tarynn who was still striding in front of them, "Arrogant."

Sleipnir noticed his glance, "You will have to forgive Tarynn. He hates humans. And after the history of them, I cannot say I blame him."

"Yeah, you're probably right…"

"You did well acting to him like you did however, it shows your respect. He likes respect."

"I just couldn't help but _to respect him. Even if I wanted to show him exactly what was going through my mind at that time I wouldn't be able to. Something stopped me."_

"That does not surprise me, all humans that have looked upon him have acted in the same way – not that there are that many of them."

"Too scared to try and find 'em, eh?"

"Oh no, you see… Tarynn is the Lord of this forest. Every creature treats him with the utmost respect. The wolves howl a chorus to him as he passes, the lions bow before him…"

"I didn't think lions lived in forests."

"They do not. However it seems you still fail to understand me; this is no ordinary forest. You know this, it has unicorns in. And a forest with unicorns is a forest of magic."

"So there _are lions here then?"_

"To a degree, Fenririans."

"Fenririans?"

"White breed, blue manes. I doubt you have heard of them."

"No I haven't. Are there any dragons here?"

"There was…" Sleipnir shook his silvery mane, "Once. Only one, mind you. He was the Lord of this forest, but he was very old. He gave his status to Tarynn before he passed away. Tarynn had served him well, he deserved such a position."

"Is Tarynn old?"

"Well he is… and in some ways he is not. You see, like demons, unicorns have a much longer lifeline than of humans. He is, in humans years, no less than one hundred and thirty-six seasons. In unicorn years however, he is only around twenty seven years old."

"That it?"

"Yes."

"Where are we?" Dante asked, changing the subject completely. "I thought I heard a bird sing."

"Aah. We must be getting closer then."

"Closer to where?"

"Where else?" Sleipnir snorted in amusement. "The unicorns' glen."

His eyes widened at they stepped into a clearing and his heart skipped a beat. The clearing was unlike the rest of the forest, the clouds seemed to part and the sun shone brightly. It was quite simple; a patch of grass about thirty meters squared, a small stream running through the middle and a range of exotic plants growing everywhere.

"Wow…" Dante raised an eyebrow as they stepped out of the last of the undergrowth and into the sunny clearing, "Paradise found."

"The whole forest used to be like this…" Sleipnir sighed.

"Why does this bit look like it's been untouched?" Dante breathed the question as he attempted to take in the surroundings.

"The answer…" Sleipnir nodded away from him, "…Is over there."

Dante watched as Tarynn let out a shrill neigh and trotted over to a group of unicorns who were grazing by the stream.

"And they must be the rest of them, huh?"

"Correct. Alexa, Epona, Asreena, Kefira and Acorna. The other one Tahl, he's the only other male."

"And Tarynn and him don't fight?"

"They have no reason too. Why do you assume that?"

"Well, I was just thinking… wild horses fight over females, so I guess-…"

"Quiet!" Sleipnir ordered so sharply that Dante fell silent almost at once; "Listen. Never, _never_… call unicorns horses. **_Never_**."

"Why not?"

"They hate it!" Sleipnir snorted, "Call them horses to their faces and you might as well be dead for all you are worth in their eyes!"

"Are they really that bad?"

"You've had your warning." He stopped suddenly in the shade of a tree and leant down, allowing Dante to slide Trish from his back and gently place her on the ground.

"Careful," Sleipnir warned, "Here come the mares."

They trotted over in a big group, each one as beautiful as the one before. Dante couldn't help but notice that each and every one of them was unique. One of them had her mane in a big plait and her tail loose. One had smaller plaits in both her mane and her tail. Two of them wore ribbons; it wasn't quite what Dante was expecting.

"A human female…" one of them whispered to her companions, "How long has it been?"

"Years…" Another replied.

"Is she okay?" One with an exceptionally gentle voice, who turned out to by Kefira, "She doesn't look very good."

"She is just tired," Tarynn said with a snort, "We ran into neo-panthers at the Mother Tree, she was poisoned."

"You fixed her, I hope?"

"Of course."

"Good, because we all know what you're like with humans Tarynn."

There were mumbles of agreement amongst the other mares.

"Bah!" Tarynn snorted, turning towards the stream again and taking a long drink.

Kefira nosed gently at Trish who was still unconscious, "She's the most beautiful of all human mares I have ever seen."

Once again, mumbles of agreement.

"Let her alone," the stallion said suddenly, "You may speak with her when she has rested. Away ladies, away!"

The mares muttered amongst themselves and walked away with their heads in the air and their lionish tails flicking behind them huffily. Dante smiled to himself as they walked off; the books were right – unicorns were indeed very proud creatures. He looked to Trish, who stirred and seemed to curl in his arms. It was going to be a long wait.

(***         ***          ***)

It was nightfall and the moon majestically rose over the forest, shining proudly in the cloudless sky.

Trish sighed and gazed up at it as its beauty shone off her pale face. She loved the night sky, she still remembered the nights when she used to fly freely through the crisp night air.

Looking to the left slightly, she realised that Dante was slowly making his way towards her position,

She raised her head as he approached with an almost nervous air which made her lips curl up with pity. After what had happened between them, she couldn't blame him that he was frightened. Her smile increased, _frightened_. Dante always battled so savagely against that word.

"Evenin'," he grunted, joining her.

She folded her arms and smiled again, "Well, hello Dante-sama."

"Don't call me that."

"Why not?"

"I'm not Japanese."

"Very well."

Nothing was said for a few minutes, until Dante finally broke the silence. "So uh… whatcha doin'?"

"I'm standing here talking to you. Well, I thought I would until both of us failed to say anything."

"…"

"…"

"……the unicorn's are pretty, huh?"

"Oh Dante," she laughed, "Is that the best you can come up with?"

"Hey, I'm serious!"

"Well then yes…" Trish looked away, the smile still evident on her moonlit face, "They're very beautiful."

"They like you well enough. They shy away from me, though."

"Well, you're male. It's nothing personal."

"I guess I shouldn't be offended then, what with you here to save me and all."

"You mock me Dante?" she teased, relaxing against the tree trunk lazily.

"No, I'm just trying to make a point."

"Are you _really?"_

He shuffled uncomfortably, "Yes."

"And what point is that, Dante-sama?"

"Heavens creatures don't really like me very much. I'm not holy enough for them. Holy, ha! The very word makes me shiver. Since when has anything holy ever come to New York? Until Sleipnir came along, the best thing we had that was 'holy' was a tooth fairy with a broken wing. Remember her?"

"Yup," Trish smiled brightly, "How could I forget her? She was lovely."

"She was irritating, she cried continuously."

"She'd lost her wand, give her a break."

"We found it again."

"True. You know, I miss her. She promised to come back and see us again."

"And she never did."

"Can we change the subject?"

"Okay, you choose."

"I guess…" she shuffled and smiled slightly, "I wanna thank you."

"Huh?" He looked surprised, "What for?"

"For saving my life, again."

He hung his head, "Trish, I done no such thing. If Sleipnir and Tarynn hadn't have come running then we both would be dead, you know that."

"I know, but if you hadn't have come to look for me then they never would have found us. You all worked together."

"…"

"I just hate it when you do 'that.'"

"Do what?"

"That! You know, pretend you don't know what I'm talking about!"

"What's that got to do with anything?"

"And one more thing! You always lead me on!"

Dante rolled his eyes, not this again.

"Don't you roll your eyes at me!" She snapped viciously, "Listen to what I have to say, I mean it!

"Shoot then."

"We've been together for mouths and we're still nothing but just good friends!"

He was silent for a few seconds, before sighing and shaking his head, "Not this again."

"You never give me a straight answer!" She snapped again, "It pisses me off Dante, if really does!"

Dante shrugged, "What's that noise?"

Trish bit her lip furiously; he was changing the subject again. However she swallowed her anger and answered, "It's the river. It gets a bit wider over there," she pointed to the bank a few meters away.

He passed her and walked over to it, brushing her hand slightly with his own as he did so. She glared after him, then followed, thinking there was nothing better to do.

Sitting by the waters edge, Dante watched as his reflection rippled gently in the cool water. It was such a beautiful night, one like he'd never seen before. He raised his head to look at the sky and shuddered as he felt Trish's hands on his shoulder.

"We don't get nights like this in New York do we?"

He shook his head in reply. "No, we don't."

"It's… kinda scary… those stars… isn't it?"

"I…" his voice rang off, "Yeah…"

She sat next to him on the grass and gazed, fixated, into the lake. "I've never seen a place so beautiful as this clearing. I wish we could stay here forever."

Dante didn't reply.

She bit her lip, suddenly concerned. "What's on your mind?"

He heaved a heavy sigh, like he had the whole weight of the world on his shoulders. "I don't know… I just feel… weird… sitting here, by the waters edge in a forest in the middle of nowhere. …with you."

She felt her heart skip a beat, "And…?"

"And I…" She felt his hand glide over hers and he turned his head to face her. "I…"

A feeling of excited sickness dripped to her stomach at the thought of maybe this was it. Maybe now, after leading her on all these times. Maybe this clearing had some effect on him, like it did to her.

His hand slipped away, "Never mind."

Trish growled and grit her teeth hard. He'd done it again. This was **it, she couldn't take it anymore.**

Sliding her hands to his shoulders she summoned all her strength and pushed him as hard as she could. Dante hit the lake with a splash as the freezing water hit him like a kick in the guts. He lurched in the water and, after a few seconds of trying to recover and work out whatever it was that hit him, he pulled himself to the surface, only to be met with the sound of maniacal laughter as Trish crouched in hysterics on the bank.

"You-!!" He gasped, but was suddenly over taken with water again. She laughed harder as his head once more broke the surface. "Why the hell did you do that?!"

At first she was laughing too hard to reply, but eventually her breathing evened and she said between gasps, "Because you did it again!"

"Did what?!"

Her face turned sour, "Don't pretend you don't know!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about!"

"You led me on Armitage!" she snapped, though her amusement still shone through her anger. "Once again you had me thinking that we were gonna kiss this time! But no!"

Dante hung his head to hide his obvious smile.

"I'm sick of it you know! You do it _every time_!"

"Awww Trish…" he said with fake sympathy, suddenly swimming towards the bank. "I'm sorry, I had no idea how much it was affecting you…" he held out his hand towards her as he reached his destination, "Now help me out, please?"

She hesitated, then held out her hand for him, meaning to help him out of the water.

An evil glint shone in his eye and she instantly realised this was a mistake. Tugging on her arm, he brought her tumbling in and hitting the water after him. It was absolutely freezing and she tried to scream in surprise, but the cold lake suppressed her cries.

She felt him grip her around the waist and start pulling her upwards towards the surface, gasping sharply as she broke it and clinging onto him like the lifeline he represented. "Stupid bastard!" She cried, hitting him as soon as she could manage it. "Why did you pull me in?!"

"You pushed me in first," he smirked dangerously, "Besides, I couldn't just let you sit there and get jealous of me freezing in my waterlogged clothes."

"That's not funny!" She splashed the water hard so that more icy drops landed on his skin. "I hate cold water!"

"Well so do I."

Another splash confirmed to him that she wasn't in the mood for jokes and he let go of her waist, pushing her further out into the lake and retaliating with his own splash of water.

She held out her hands in front of her face to shield herself and pushed more water back in his direction. "Stop splashing me!"

"Well you're splashing me," he said coolly.

"I have every right to, I'm annoyed with you!"

Without another word he suddenly disappeared under the waters surface and in a blind panic she looked around, scanning the surface for some sign of him, "Dante?! Dante, where are you?!"

Her cries were answered as she felt something pull down on her leg and once more she disappeared beneath the water. She thrashed and struggled violently, only relaxing as she felt his hands squeeze her shoulder, telling her that he was still there, that he hadn't left her. Her eyes opened and she was suddenly aware of the cold void around her, it was so dark beneath the surface she could see nothing, only eternal obscurity.

She turned in the water as Dante moved in front of her. His hair flowed freely around him and the smile he wore was gentle, it was like when she had first met him, when they first got back from the island. He looked like Dante again.

She felt his arm slip around her waist, his other slide up her back and bury his fingers in her silky golden tresses. She shuddered when she felt their lips touch, she didn't mean too, but she couldn't help it. It was like all her prayers had been answered and for once she didn't care anymore. This was all she wanted.

The air was like a cool relief when they broke the surface, even though she had been enjoying herself thoroughly every demon needs air sometime. She growled at that thought, she was still a demon in some ways. However…

"Dante…" the whisper came out more like a whimper and her companion brushed his drenched silver locks from his eyes vainly,  "You okay?"

"Yes…" she leant her head on his chest with a sudden wave of emotion. "I never thought that…"

"You never thought I would do it would you?" his eyes narrowed, but he still smiled.

"No…"

"Never think like that…" he growled, planting another kiss on her neck and gripping her tighter, "I just like to take my time."

Dante stopped as he felt Trish pressed her fingers into his neck, "What's the matter?"

"Shhh…" she smiled, "Can't you hear it?"

"Hear what?"

"Them…"

He was silent and his eyes widened as her heard their smooth voices carried in the wind.

"They're singing…" Trish bit her lip with tears in her eyes, "The unicorns are singing…"

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End of chapter six


	8. The Unicorns Ballard

**The Ballard of the Unicorn**

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Our fates have long since broken,

Our destiny long since lost,

And we most content ourselves with dreaming,

Of what freedom must have cost.

It's just reminiscence,

It's there and then gone so fast,

And once again we're left with memories,

Of bygone ages past,

We run from the new world in fear,

We're in forests hidden deep,

Holding close to us what we find so dear,

Only our freedom we have to keep.

Does this destruction stop at nothing?

Is fear all we have to know?

There's no turning back or going forward,

We've nowhere else to go.

As the light sparkles at the horizon,

We rear to greet the dawn,

We are the survivors, we are the fighters,

We are the last of the unicorn.

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Okay okay, I'm really really really really sorry! I haven't updated for aaaaaaaaaaaaaaages!! *Cowers* Am I forgiven? Please? *Whine whine*

Leave a review anyway please so I can TRY and get the next chapter up in a few days.

*Sob sob*

Thanks everyone

_Belle___


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